2016 IARU HF Championship Full Results – Version 2.01 Page 1 of 12 “No doubt who won this contest -- Mother Nature. – K4AB” As with all other HF contests, this one is very much influenced by the sunspot cycle. In 2016, sunspot activity was really going down very fast and degrading propagation on the higher bands. This is clearly visible in the scores of the bigger stations, especially in the Headquarters station category. However, the number of received logs is growing slightly, so the popularity of this contest is still very strong despite declining conditions. Also, the 2015 and 2016 events were WRTC2018 qualification events, which has raised interest. As a result, while conditions were generally poorer than 2015, there seemed to be more activity. Space Weather The lower sunspot numbers impacted propagation for most stations. In fact, for a week-long period in late June the sunspot number dropped to zero. Ray, WQ5L, described conditions succinctly: “Cycle 24 fall down, go boom.” K6WSC was operating in the Unlimited category and when he was tuning through the cluster spots in the band map and got to the end of the band, the N1MM+ software reported “No more spots”. Bill got a hearty laugh out of the double meaning in the message. Most entrants were not laughing and reported very poor conditions on 10 meters in particular. Bob, MDØCCE (operating as MD2C) said “checked 10M both days, I never heard a signal on the band, even when there were spots from stations to the south of me; however 20M was open all night”. Steve, N2IC, in New Mexico, said “First time I have ever been completely shut-out on 10 meters. Nothing there. Not a peep.” Another Steve (PJ4DX), on the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean where propagation is almost always excellent, commented “Worst ever conditions for the first 8 hours”. There were exceptions, however. VK2PN said “Conditions were not too bad. Plenty of stations to work”, while VK2CZ noted “Great conditions with 20m never actually closing”. HSØZIA had an interesting perspective: “Condx so bad here it felt like I was QRP! Nice to see 10 meters still alive though!” Many stations reported zero intercontinental QSOs on 10-meters, but a lucky few caught a short multi-hop sporadic-E opening from Western and Southern Europe to the southeastern USA around 2200z. W2GD, who operated as P4ØW on Aruba to celebrate his 67 th birthday noted that he worked a fair number of Europeans on 10 but only two USA stations. Within Europe, sporadic-E provided some excellent rates on 10 off and on throughout the day. Terrestrial Weather July is thunderstorm season in the northern hemisphere, and many stations suffered. Some reported high local QRN, while others had to shut down during passing storms. Ed, N1UR, said he dodged thunderstorms literally the entire contest. One finally came directly over, requiring a shutdown. Jim, KM4HI, had to shut down and disconnect twice due to passing thunderstorms. Marv, N5AW, reported “Something about contests that seem to attract thunderstorms to our area. None were forecast but static crashes kept getting louder and louder. About midnight I heard thunder. Could see lightning to our west and north but fortunately it did not get any closer so did not have to shut down”. Andy, N2NT, was not so lucky. His antenna switching system failed due to a nearby lightning strike at 0250z, and his contest was over. Olivier, ON4EI, had a different weather-related experience. He traveled to Ireland again and operated as EI1A from his camping van atop a hill in County Tipperary. The wind blew at a constant 45 km/hr (28 mph) with gusts to nearly 60 km/hr (37 mph), but he used it to advantage and powered his station from his wind generator for the entire contest IARU HF Championship 2016 Results By Kresimir Kovarik, 9A5K – [email protected]
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IARU HF Championship 2016 Results IARU Web...2016 IARU HF Championship Full Results – Version 2.01 Page 1 of 12 This year your “No doubt who won this contest -- Mother Nature.K4AB”
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2016 IARU HF Championship Full Results – Version 2.01 Page 1 of 12
This year your
“No doubt who won this contest -- Mother Nature. – K4AB”
As with all other HF contests, this one is very much
influenced by the sunspot cycle. In 2016, sunspot activity
was really going down very fast and degrading
propagation on the higher bands. This is clearly visible in
the scores of the bigger stations, especially in the
Headquarters station category. However, the number of
received logs is growing slightly, so the popularity of this
contest is still very strong despite declining conditions.
Also, the 2015 and 2016 events were WRTC2018
qualification events, which has raised interest. As a
result, while conditions were generally poorer than 2015,
there seemed to be more activity.
Space Weather
The lower sunspot numbers impacted propagation for
most stations. In fact, for a week-long period in late June
the sunspot number dropped to zero. Ray, WQ5L,
described conditions succinctly: “Cycle 24 fall down, go
boom.” K6WSC was operating in the Unlimited category
and when he was tuning through the cluster spots in the
band map and got to the end of the band, the N1MM+
software reported “No more spots”. Bill got a hearty
laugh out of the double meaning in the message.
Most entrants were not laughing and reported very poor
conditions on 10 meters in particular. Bob, MDØCCE
(operating as MD2C) said “checked 10M both days, I
never heard a signal on the band, even when there were
spots from stations to the south of me; however 20M was
open all night”. Steve, N2IC, in New Mexico, said “First
time I have ever been completely shut-out on 10 meters.
Nothing there. Not a peep.” Another Steve (PJ4DX), on
the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean where propagation
is almost always excellent, commented “Worst ever
conditions for the first 8 hours”.
There were exceptions, however. VK2PN said
“Conditions were not too bad. Plenty of stations to
work”, while VK2CZ noted “Great conditions with 20m
never actually closing”. HSØZIA had an interesting
perspective: “Condx so bad here it felt like I was QRP!
Nice to see 10 meters still alive though!”
Many stations reported zero intercontinental QSOs on
10-meters, but a lucky few caught a short multi-hop
sporadic-E opening from Western and Southern Europe
to the southeastern USA around 2200z. W2GD, who
operated as P4ØW on Aruba to celebrate his 67th
birthday noted that he worked a fair number of
Europeans on 10 but only two USA stations. Within
Europe, sporadic-E provided some excellent rates on 10
off and on throughout the day.
Terrestrial Weather
July is thunderstorm season in the northern hemisphere,
and many stations suffered. Some reported high local
QRN, while others had to shut down during passing
storms. Ed, N1UR, said he dodged thunderstorms
literally the entire contest. One finally came directly
over, requiring a shutdown. Jim, KM4HI, had to shut
down and disconnect twice due to passing thunderstorms.
Marv, N5AW, reported “Something about contests that
seem to attract thunderstorms to our area. None were
forecast but static crashes kept getting louder and louder.
About midnight I heard thunder. Could see lightning to
our west and north but fortunately it did not get any
closer so did not have to shut down”. Andy, N2NT, was
not so lucky. His antenna switching system failed due to
a nearby lightning strike at 0250z, and his contest was
over.
Olivier, ON4EI, had a different weather-related
experience. He traveled to Ireland again and operated as
EI1A from his camping van atop a hill in County
Tipperary. The wind blew at a constant 45 km/hr (28
mph) with gusts to nearly 60 km/hr (37 mph), but he
used it to advantage and powered his station from his
2016 IARU HF Championship Full Results – Version 2.01 Page 5 of 12
Regional Leaders Boxes list call sign, score, and category:
SO = Single Operator SOU = Single Operator Unlimited MIX = Mixed Mode CW = CW Only PH = Phone Only HP = High Power LP = Low Power QRP = QRP MSHP = Multioperator, Single Transmitter, High Power
West Coast Region Midwest Region Central Region Southeast Region Northeast Region Pacific, Northwestern, and
Southwestern ARRL Divisions; Alberta; British Columbia, and NT
RAC Sections
Dakota, Midwest, Rocky Mountain and West Gulf ARRL Divisions;
Manitoba and Saskatchewan RAC Sections
Central and Great Lakes ARRL Divisions; Greater Toronto Area, Ontario East, Ontario North, and
Ontario South RAC Section
Delta, Roanoke, and Southeastern ARRL Divisions
New England, Hudson and Atlantic ARRL Divisions; Maritime and